DALLAS (Ticker) -- Shaquille O'Neal scored 25 points and Kobe
Bryant added 21 as the Los Angeles Lakers continued their
mastery over the Dallas Mavericks with a 96-93 victory.

Dennis Rodman, playing his second straight game missing four
games due to personal reasons, grabbed 17 rebounds as the Lakers
defeated the Mavericks for the 15th straight time.

Glen Rice added 17 points for Los Angeles, which is 11-0 with
Rodman in the lineup. The Lakers shot 49 percent (37-for-76)
and completed a 3-3 road trip.

"It was a long and hard trip," said Los Angeles coach Kurt
Rambis. "We had to make a lot of adjustments and I feel very
fortunate to be out of it at 3-3."

O'Neal also grabbed nine rebound and made 7-of-12 shots from the
free throw line, but he complained about the fouls that were not
called.

"Somebody's going to get their nose broken some day," O'Neal
said. "I promise you before I get hurt, somebody else is going
to get broke up. Rewrite that, what I'm saying, before I get
hurt, somebody is going to get broke up. If David Stern doesn't
want to do anything about it ... well hey if that's how they
want to play, I'll play like that."

Michael Finley had 23 points and five assists and Hubert Davis
added 16 for Dallas, which has not defeated Los Angeles since a
home victory on April 5, 1995.

"It was a pretty good ballgame, a winnable ballgame," said
Dallas coach Don Nelson. "We played them pretty well. I'm real
happy with the way we played. It was not quite good enough but
we played pretty well. We are a pretty good defensive team
right now, so no complaints about the game. They're a very good
team."

Bryant, who scored a career-high 38 points in Sunday's 115-104
victory over Orlando, gave the Lakers the lead for good when he
converted a three-point play for a 63-61 edge with 4:33 left in
the third quarter.

Los Angeles, which overcame a 63-43 halftime deficit against
Orlando, trailed by just 47-44 at the break. Travis Knight, who
had 12 points in 14 minutes, made a layup to give the Lakers
their first lead of the game, 54-53, with 7:46 to go in the third.

Chris Antsey made a 16-footer to give the Mavericks a 61-58 lead
with 5:12 left in the third. O'Neal had a dunk after a missed
jumper by Bryant to pull the Lakers within 61-60 with 4:51
remaining in the third. O'Neal made a free throw to give the
Lakers a 64-61 lead with 3:51 left. Bryant had a 21-footer to
push the lead to 68-63 with 2:58 to go.

Los Angeles took a 73-66 lead into the fourth after Bryant made
a pair of free throws with 47.2 seconds left.

The Lakers had their biggest lead when O'Neal's running jumper
made it 85-73 with 5:09 to play in the fourth. Finley followed
with a 14-footer to trigger a 15-6 surge that ended with Gary
Trent's layup with 42.6 seconds left.

Rick Fox was fouled after the ensuing inbounds pass and made a
free throw to give the Lakers a 92-88 lead. After Antsey missed
a 3-pointer, Bryant made two foul shots to make it 94-88 with
31.4 seconds left.